Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Perhaps Gadhafi will agree to go...(Update)

Update by Mark Memmott, NPR website, March 8, 2011Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime has reached out to the rebels seeking to overthrow his government "for some sort of negotiated solution to this crisis," NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro tells our Newscast desk.By CNN Wire Staff, from CNN website, March 8, 2011But, she says, "officials from the rebel 'government' here have flatly refused to have anything to do with Tripoli as long as Moammar Gadhafi stays in power. They say 'he must go and then we can talk; not before that.' "That's what Agence France Presse is reporting as well, the BBC says: "Former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, now head of the rebels' provisional national council, told AFP they had rejected [the] mediator's offer of talks. He said the Libyan ruler had not sent anyone himself, but that activist lawyers from Tripoli had volunteered as go-betweens. He also said they would not pursue criminal charges against Col. Gaddafi if he left." [NPR follows Associated Press style on the spelling of Gadhafi's name; other outlets do not.]Al-Jazeera, however, reports that it has been told by sources that "the leaders of Libya's uprising say they are considering a conditional offer" from Gadhafi to step down — even as "Libyan state television on Tuesday denied reports that the Libyan leader tried to strike a deal."

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Moammar Gadhafi is trying to strike a deal with opposition leaders, saying he will step down as Libya's leader if they can guarantee him safe passage out of the country and promise that neither he nor his family will face prosecution, an official with the opposition said Tuesday. The development could not be immediately confirmed with members of Gadhafi's government. The opposition has submitted counter-offers with several demands. Among them is a stipulation that Gadhafi has to immediately concede he is not the ruler of Libya, said Amal Bugaigis, a member of the opposition group called the February 17 Coalition. The devlopment comes as Libya enters its fourth week of bloody clashes Tuesday and there was little doubt that the situation had turned into all-out civil war.British diplomatic team taken in Libya Rebels have seized several cities from government control and the army has fiercely fought to reclaim some of them.Death toll estimates have ranged from more than 1,000 to as many as 2,000. Thousands more have fled the country, prompting a human rights group to once again urge both sides to allow humanitarian aid in."Both the Libyan government and opposition forces need to allow unhindered access for aid organizations to assist civilians," Bill Frelick, refugee program director at Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. "People living in areas of heavy fighting in western Libya are now in dire need of medical aid and other assistance."
This news needs little comment, except to say that the Libyan people deserve both the praise and thanks of the rest of the world community, for holding firm in their belief that 41 years of dictatorship is more than enough. And, if it is true, and a deal for his removal can be worked out, then the people of Libya also deserve the utmost support in humanitarian aid and in helping them to establish their own government.
And about these legitimate needs there need not be the kind of bickering that attends "military intervention".